The Right Path
by nutellafueled
Summary: Highschool!soapopera fic. Trouble in varying degrees befall our characters. Fallouts happen, violence escalates and what is going on with Tennouji? Feedback appreciated. Chaotic updates. May be discontinued.
1. 01:: It Begins

GAAAAH. Okay. The previous version of this was a complete failure in terms of consistency and strange mistakes so I'm re-uploading it. With a better title. Yeah...

**Telly**: Yay! I'm back!

**Vaness**: With a new goal in life!

**Telly**: To produce quality School Rumble fanfiction, the first of its kind on FFN!

**Vaness**: We're perfectly aware that SR fanfiction exists. We know about the yuri ones too. Heh.

**Telly**: However, I remain a mad yaoi supporter. Yeah... too bad SR is TOTALLY devoid of any yaoi hints... -stare-

Now, this story doesn't happen at a specific time. Since I'm not good with the School Rumble timeline, and things that I read in the manga may not have happened in the anime. Yeah...

Spoilers alert. Small ones, though. Like Imadori's house and stuff.

And even though I meant for it to be whimsical and funny in the classic SR way... it somehow turned into a soap opera!highschool-type fic. Please enjoy nonetheless!

It's not really that soap opera-y though. Not like the hardcore ones... well, it's kinda a softcore soap opera. If that exists, heh.

Dewa. Hajimemasho!

**xxxxx**

Chapter 1:

"It all starts in a Chinese restaurant.

What's going on? The problems begin."

**xxxxx**

It was a remotely normal day in the School Rumble world. Because, you know when Super Saiyan-morphing, psychic spoon-bending and misunderstandings of gigantic proportions occur, everything is pretty much normal.

School was over. Tenma had run off to the supermarket to grab the bargains, Yakumo home to do housework and her own homework. Mikoto and Hanai back to the dojo to practice, Karen, Mihara and Lala to the amateur wrestling club, Sarah to the church and Eri back home. Even Imadori had been oddly conscientious, having gone back to help his parents at the 'Now Bird' beauty salon instead of going to flirt.

Asou had returned home to help his parents in the restaurant.

And Harima...

**xxxxx**

Now, a few days ago Harima had decided that he needed a job. This manga artist thing was just not working out and he was broke. Itoko had been as sympathetic as usual, which translated to about none, and there was no way he'd ask for help from the few friends he had. A man had to keep his pride, after all.

So he scanned the classifieds with a steady and determined hawk's eye. Strange how many people wanted kappas. He paused for a while, then continued forging on. Nothing would get in his way!

Eventually, his eye landed onto a hiring ad from the Kouraku Chinese Restaurant.

'_Hey, I have nothing more to lose!_' he thought.

**xxxxx**

"Er... hello, Harima," Asou Hiroyoshi said.

"Who are you?" Harima replied. That guy seemed vaguely familiar, but Harima couldn't, for his life, place where he'd seen him before... You must, after all, keep in mind that while they were in the same class, they barely talked, and Harima had never called him by his name before.

"Your classmate? ...From school? Asou Hiroyoshi?" Asou reminded him, sighing. '_Of all the other people the new guy could have been..._'

"...oh," Harima said.

"Anyway, Harima-kun, if you have any questions," Asou-san, the owner of the restaurant and the younger Asou's father, said, "feel free to ask Hiroyoshi. He's experienced with running the restaurant and can help you with everything. Good luck, Harima-kun!"

"Yeah..." Harima sighed.

The first day passed without any major mishaps, and Harima was quick on the job. He did not ask Asou any questions, talk to Asou or even LOOK at Asou, but diligently did his work.

'_What a weird guy..._' Asou thought.

**xxxxx**

"Hey, does anyone feel like eating Chinese food today?" the fair-haired half-European, half-Japanese beauty, Sawachika Eri, asked her friends. "My treat!"

"Yeah, I don't mind!" the talkative, cheerful Suou Mikoto replied. "Where do you want to go?"

"Ne, ne ne ne ne!" the ever-excitable Tsukamoto Tenma said. "Let' go to the Kouraku Chinese Restaurant! Asou-kun's place! Want to come too, Karen?"

"Okay... I guess..." Karen said, smiling shyly.

Eventually, after school, Yakumo, Lala, Suga and Imadori also ended up going. They (with the exception of Yakumo; she went wherever Tenma went) had somehow managed to wheedle their way into going as well.

**xxxxx**

"Suou?" Asou said, surprised. "You didn't tell me you were coming... and with all these people..."

"Well..." Mikoto replied, grinning sheepishly, "I figured I wanted it to be a surprise, I guess. You can handle it, right?"

"Of course," Asou said in the Asou-style. Confident, but not too brash or arrogant. Just Asou. Taking out a pen and his notebook, he asked, "What would you like to eat?"

"You know what I want, Asou," Suga said, grinning.

Asou sighed. "Ramen again, right? Suga, this is a Chinese restaurant, you know... only for you," he conceded. 'Where the hell is Harima...?' he thought. "He's supposed to be doing this sort of thing!'

Suga gave him the thumbs up and grinned.

"I'll have fried noodles..." Karen said.

"I want those _chashuu_ buns!" Tenma said excitedly. "Yakumo and I will share!"

"Soup with chestnut and watercrests," Akira ordered, the epitome of professionalism.

**xxxxx**

Meanwhile, Harima was feeling very socially awkward. He _did not_ want to be seen working as a waiter in front of _anybody_ he knew. Asou had been bad enough, but at least he was the boss' son. The people out there were bad. His Tenma-chan was _worse_. And the thought of what that Princess would say... his position as class delinquent would be shattered.

Wait... that was good, wasn't it? He needed to show Tenma-chan that he was a socially responsible man! And he could hardly afford to be seen wasting time on his second day. Imagine what a bad impression that would give.

He walked out and leaned against a corner, radiating waves of apathy and awesomeness. '_Be cool... be cool..._' his mind intoned over and over again.

Asou sighed mentally. Again. "Harima. Next time, can you take the orders?"

Harima opened one eye and looked at Asou through the corner. Raising an eyebrow and slowly bringing it back down, he said, "Hmmm," in what could be interpreted as a 'yes, whatever'.

Harima, Eri thought, was making an ass of himself, as usual.

"D-cup, D-cup, D-cup!" Imadori's face lit up with glee as he stared at Lala, who was sitting next to him. Oh dear.

Ichijou Karen bit her lip and looked away.

Lala caught Imadori staring and promptly started to beat him up. Karen tried pacifying her again, but the effort was just not there.

**xxxxx**

Kouraku Chinese Restaurant had closed for the day. Asou was returning home, determined to take a shower and get a start on his homework.

"I'm ba—" he almost started to say, before he noticed that the house was eerily quiet. His mother was not cooking. His father was not making jokes or fixing something. There was no rustle of the newspaper to indicate that it was being read, nor there were any sounds coming from the TV.

Asou crept in and as he stood by the door of his parents' room, he heard them talking.

"They've called again..." his father said in a tone Asou could not immediately place. "This is the third time in a week and even though they haven't progressed to money threats yet, it's just a matter of time..."

His father, his cheerful, somewhat crazy, fighter father sounded defeated. That tone felt so out of place coming from the elder Asou.

"But what can we do?" his mother sounded sad. "The police won't help us. These yakuza are _everywhere_. They won't help us when everyone else is clamoring for help..."

"We'll just have to suck it up," his father said, grimly determined. Now that tone felt familiar. "Maybe we'll be able to work out a deal." But he did not sound confident.

"And we can't let Hiroyoshi know!" his mother said, turning distressed. "He already works so hard for the restaurant... we can't let him know about this. It would only worry him more."

Asou, still trying to process this, quietly, wordlessly crept back outside before walking in and calling, "I'm back!" There was immediately a bustle of activity as his mother started cooking and the TV was turned on. When Asou walked into the living room, his father turned to him and gave a perfected, as-if-natural grin. "Hey, Hiroyoshi. How was school?"

"It was all right," Asou said, giving a forced small smile back, before going up to his room.

**xxxxx**

Yeah... hope you enjoy this!

I tried doing a School Rumble x Harry Potter cross at first, but I loved too many of the characters to select which ones to give to Hogwarts. But I can still imagine Imadori going, "D-Cup Power!" and kicking the ass of all the Death Eaters. Heh.

Yakuza – Japanese triads.

Please read and review!


	2. 02:: Uncertainties

**Hi guys! I know I've been horrible and not updated for like forever. So I present to you... DOUBLE UPDATE! DUN DUN DUN!**

**Telly**: Zomg. SO.

**Vaness**: The second chapter begins!

**Telly**: We shall dally no longer. Sadly, this is an angst fic (or at least it's supposed to be...), which means we cannot talk as much as we normally could in the humor and action fics we wrote previously. Yeah... onward ho!

Don't jump to conclusions. That is all I'm saying.

Please review! D: Reviews are my crack!

**And I really need a beta. Preferably someone nitpicky who can give me the goods and bads of my chapters. Please leave it in a review or PM me if interested! Thank you!**

And is it me or did Harry somehow turn into Fai from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle? o.o -slaps self- I'm horrible at him.

**xxxxx**

Chapter 2:

"These people only have one wish:

To be who they really are, show the one within;

To not change themselves at someone's whim."

**xxxxx**

"Tougou, do you like me?"

The question came out of the blue. Tougou dismissed it and raised his glass to his lips, then froze as the true meaning of the question hit him.

"Aibou..." he said uncertainly. "Of course I do. We're friends, aren't we?"

Harry quirked a smile, eyes twinkling. "Not in that way."

"Come now," Tougou said, faltering. "Don't be ridiculous."

"That's true," Harry said, still smiling. "Can't joke about these things, can we."

They sat there for a little while.

"I have to go," Harry said abruptly. "Say hi to your sister for me, yeah?"

Tougou's younger sister, Masaki, liked Harry very much and a greeting from him would make her squeal uncharacteristically like there was no tomorrow. Tougou smiled wryly and watched him go.

'_Don't be ridiculous, Tougou. This won't happen._'

"_Gay people," Tougou's father said, "should not have the right to exist on this earth."_

"Don't be ridiculous..." he said again.

**xxxxx**

"So... is this the place...?" Asou wondered aloud as he poked through an alleyway to reach the entrance of a small club. "Renjéz Club, huh?" He started to go in but was stopped by the doorman, who had been looking at him oddly since he'd made himself visible.

"Kid, this club isn't for minors. Sorry," he said.

"The yakuza are in there, right?" Asou replied levelly.

The doorman stared at him incredulously. "Kid, no way... do you have a death wish? You don't cross with these yakuza, they'd kill you... in a heartbeat!"

"Please let me through," Asou said politely. "I'm not going to get myself killed. I only want to have a little talk with them."

"Kid... you're a weird one. A fighting spirit... I admire that," the doorman conceded. "Sorry, but no can do. I don't want the law coming after me. Come back when you _look_ a little older, yeah?" He smiled at Asou.

Asou gave a small, grateful smile in return. "All right," he replied.

Later, when a slightly taller Asou-in-sunglasses-and-long-hooded-overcoat entered the club, the doorman didn't stop him.

**xxxxx**

Wild, raucous laughter came from one of the rooms of the club. "Do it again, Goro! That was a good one!" a loud, gravelly voice roared. Goro was just about to when suddenly, someone bumped into him and walked off without apologizing. The ultimate sacrilege to a yakuza member.

Snarling, Goro went to the hooded stranger and grabbed him by the collar. "Look here, you—! Didn't your mother teach you any manners, huh?" Then the stranger's hood fell off, revealing his youth and Goro immediately put him down. Even _he_ wouldn't mistreat a kid on purpose.

Asou shook himself and looked around, wincing at the smoke. "Where's your leader?" he asked Goro. "Is he anywhere in this room?"

The person who had laughed at Goro earlier spoke. "What if he is?" he asked Asou, eyes narrowing. "You're just a kid. Why are you here? What do you want?"

Asou looked him in the eye and said, "I want you to stop bothering my parents. We're from the Kouraku Chinese Restaurant."

"Kouraku, huh?" the leader said, thinking. "Oh yeah, I remember now. I love your dim sims, you know."

'It's dim _sums_...' Asou thought, slightly irritated but did not let that show on his face. "Thanks," he said politely.

"Kouraku, huh?" the leader continued. "Your parents send you here or something? Not very nice, are they?"

"I came by myself," Asou replied. "They don't know I'm here."

The leader suddenly grinned. "So, you want us to lay off the restaurant, huh? What're you willing to do, huh?"

"Anything," Asou immediately replied. The absolute worst thing to say when you were in this type of situation.

The leader's grin widened. "That's my boy. I'll let you off easy because of your delicious dim _sims_," Asou's eye twitched, "So, how does 50,000 yen in three days sound? Hush-hush money, huh? None of this will reach anyone's ears as long as you pay up."

"And you're off my back forever?" Asou asked, suspicious.

The leader shot a look towards Goro and Goro gave a curt nod.

Asou hesitated, then nodded.

**xxxxx**

Eri leaned on the wall next to the giraffe exhibit in the zoo and closed her eyes. The zoo may have been noisy, but the noise, in a way, helped her relax. A single, grating voice in her head telling her to confess ALREADY was hard to ignore; but it was relatively easy to block out the buzz of loud noise.

Besides, the giraffe was cute. It was a pleasure to watch.

"Pyotr!" someone called and Eri watched, bemused as the giraffe ambled towards the caller. The giraffe had a name?

Then she looked again.

This was too much! It was already unfair that Harima was the main subject of the conversations between herself and that annoying inner voice, but no! He had to even intrude upon her favorite place, the zoo! Huffing, she went to the penguin exhibit, only to meet a similar situation ten minutes or so later.

So she went to the petting zoo to take her mind off Harima, _for once_, but he then came in to check on Napoleon.

When she saw him again in the amphibians exhibit, she could not restrain it any longer. "Hige!" she called, trying to smile.

"Eh?" Harima turned to look at the person who'd called him by that nickname. Obviously it was the Princess, Harima realized with a sinking heart as he turned to face her. "Princess," he greeted her neutrally. By now Harima had learnt that the slightest wrong move could send her on the warpath, so he had to be as neutral as possible in order to protect himself.

"I didn't know you knew the animals here," Eri remarked conversationally.

"Huh? Oh, well... um, yeah," Harima replied rather intelligently. "They were from my stint as a fortune-teller. Don't you remember them?"

Eri suddenly laughed, surprising Harima. "You mean that frog was the one who predicted what my father liked? Curry and not nikujaga?"

This was dangerous ground. Harima needed to steer clear! "Well... have you met Anastasia? The penguin. She's very nice and intelligent, you know."

"Intelligent?" Eri replied skeptically. "How would you know? Do you talk to them or something?"

"Well... yes," Harima confessed and Eri's mood suddenly did a complete 180.

"I don't believe you," she said coldly, walking off. Then she turned around and added, "And for your information, I made nikujaga for Father a few days ago and he loved it."

Harima watched her go, eye twitching. He was now sinking into quicksand...

**xxxxx**

He ran, he ran, he ran! Panting heavily as he rounded a corner, he looked back to see if they were still there. They weren't.

He closed his eyes, exhaled deeply and allowed himself to relax as he leaned against the fence to take a breather. He opened his eyes, however, to see the bullies.

Harima Shuuji, their leader, smirked, his sandy blond hair glinting in the sun.

"Not feeling so confident now, are you now, _Kousuke_?"

Terrified, Ichijou Kousuke tried to back into the fence but it refused to budge and he could not go any further.

"Dojibiron won't help you now!" one of Shuuji's cronies snickered, moving closer to him.

Kousuke closed his eyes and waited for it. 'If only my sister were here...' he thought desperately.

"Harima Shuuji, you stop right now!" a righteous, indignant voice yelled at them and Kousuke opened his eyes, incredulous, to see Tennouji Mio and a shocked Harima Shuuji staring at her.

"M— Tennouji..." Harima said. Kousuke did not miss the M.

"Shuuji, you shouldn't treat people like that!" Mio scolded him. "You've frightened poor Ichijou-kun to death! Don't ever do that again!"

There was a slight pause. To others it may have lasted about 5 seconds or so but to Kousuke it lasted just about forever. Such an awkward silence...

"...whatever, Tennouji," Harima said after the pause. "We're leaving!" he told his gang and they disappeared.

"Ichijou-kun, are you all right?" Mio asked him, concerned. "I'm sorry about the way Shuuji acted... he's really very nice. Really!" she said, seeing him snort.

"Whatever you say, Tennouji," Kousuke replied. "Thanks... although I'll never live this down... being saved by a girl..."

"No problem!" Mio said, a bright grin lighting up her delicate features. "See you tomorrow at school, then!" she said, waved at him, then walked off.

Kousuke watched her go.

**xxxxx**

Heh heh heh, pre-pubescent kids and their love problems!

And seriously... English doesn't have a word for what I meant when Shuuji said, "We're leaving!". Because in Chinese there's "Zou!" and in Japanese there's "Ikou!", which is just "Go!". But in English that makes no sense. Huh!

And you know what? Tenma's birthday is November 30, right? And Harima goes to her party, yeah? Well, his brother Shuuji's birthday is also the 30th. Figures that their relationship must be so bad that Harima doesn't even show up at _his_ party...

And (last and! I promise!) I'm writing really little for this fic. O.O Because for my HP x YGO fic that is now sadly discontinued, each chapter was like... 3000 words. Yeah... and now it's half of that. It's not a bad thing though! Before I wrote this I read lots of stories that managed to tell a good story with less words (word amount kinda like mine so far) and I always thought 'Why can't I do it? D: D:' So yeah.


	3. 03:: Just When You Thought…

**Telly**: Chapter 3, yay!

**Vaness**: Did I mention that Harima looks angst-worthy in his middle school pic?

**Telly**: I prefer Imadori's. He looks _secksay_. Even if he kinda looks like he has boobs...

**Vaness**: And Itoko looked really cool as a middle-schooler!

**Telly**: Akira looked really pretty too. Too bad she cut her hair...

Anyways, susume, susume, kittoooo!

(_"Remember... 'anyways' is _not_ a word!" Telly's wonderful 9th grade English teacher reiterated for just about the millionth time._)

**xxxxx**

Chapter 3:

"But Fate is a bitch and it's not so easy

To make others put their preconceptions aside."

**xxxxx**

"You're two days early," the leader said.

"I know," Asou replied. "The 50,000 yen is here," he continued, handing an envelope to the leader.

The leader took the envelope and scrutinized the contents. Satisfied, he handed the envelope to a subordinate.

"So?" Asou asked. "You're off my back now?"

The leader looked at Asou, scrutinizing him with the same intensity as he had the money.

"You're a brave kid," he said finally. "A good kid, too. Too good. You're too good for it to be possible that you'll join our ranks one day... a real pity. The world needs more people like you."

Asou, unsure on what to do, bowed to the leader and left. It was over...

The leader watched him go and Goro, who had been there the whole time, spoke.

"You were never going to let him go, were you, Rokudaime-sama?" he asked.

The leader smiled. "It'll be a pity indeed..." he said softly.

**xxxxx**

Imadori Kyousuke was trying to get rid of his playboy reputation.

It was not going very well.

It was true that old habits were hard to break. _Very_ hard, in Imadori's case. After realizing that high school would end in pretty much a year and then he'd have to fend for himself, in the harsh, unforgiving world, Imadori had decided that he needed to get rid of the things that would impede his comfort in his future life.

Sadly, the top thing in his list had been his addiction to D-Cups.

He had thrown out Nishimoto's D-cupped porn, tried to train his eyes to focus on the big picture and had even resorted to watching Buddhist mantras repeatedly.

And yet... he had let himself fall prey to that Gori's huge chest that day.

One step forward, two steps back...

**xxxxx**

Some people said that Mihara Kozue led a lucky life. Above average grades, good at sports, with boys knocking on her every door...

Away from school she led a normal life with its ups and downs. A multitude of chores, a bossy grandmother and a kind but absent-minded mother. A father who always worked overtime, who came home extremely late at night, when she was already asleep. Mihara hadn't seen him in weeks.

A brother who was in jail.

Mihara would give anything, _anything_ to get her older brother back. Not released from jail now, but the way he was, caring and kind and funny, before he somehow morphed into a cold-blooded killer. Before, when she was young, she couldn't stand being away from him for a minute. Now she never wanted to see him again.

It would be too painful.

**xxxxx**

Karen was training in the gym, thinking very hard. She'd never attract the attention of Imadori-san with her relatively small chest... but she wouldn't give up... would she?

She stopped, panting for breath, wiping her forehead, when suddenly–

"Here," a male voice said, handing her some orange juice.

Karen looked up, shocked, and accepted it.

"I'm Takamura Kouta," he continued in that manly voice, smiling.

"Th-thank you, Takamura-san..." Karen said, drinking from the cup, smiling back at him.

**xxxxx**

Things weren't going very well between Harry and Tougou. They still talked and hung out together, but it seemed like there was an uncomfortable barrier between them. Tougou was unsure on what to do. He personally had no problem with gay people (if that was what Harry had meant), but his father was another story. The elder Tougou loved Harry and his eloquence, but if he caught wind of the fact that he was... well, _that_ way, Tougou didn't know what he'd do.

Of course, Harry had only _implied_ it. It wasn't really official yet... but then again, Harry rarely said things he didn't mean.

The silence was very awkward and Tougou needed something to do.

**xxxxx**

Asou had not gone to school today. Mikoto had been a little worried but had brushed it off. After all, Asou would be fine. He wouldn't go down so easily.

She walked with her friends to the table where they usually sat, having lunch. Tenma was as excitable and cheerful as usual... it was very reassuring in a way.

"My, what a marvelous bunch of ladies we have here," a smooth, suave voice said. "I'm holding more pottery lessons in case any one of you _signoras_ are interested."

"Tougou," Hanai said, bristling and stood up. "May I ask what you are doing here?"

"It's all very simple really," Tougou replied, Harry half-smiling behind him. "We of 2-D issue another challenge to 2-C. The Halloween Fair is coming up and all of you know about the main event, the Haunted House Survival Game. We propose a class-to-class duel. What say you?"

"This is ridiculous!" Hanai said. "We of 2-C have no time for this!"

However, it caught Harima's attention. He would be in the same group as Tenma and would, inevitably, save her from a fatal blow, causing him to find the courage to confess his feelings! At least he hoped. Those near him felt his aura grow tremendously and skirted away.

"I'm ALL for it!" Harima yelled, standing up, slamming his palms onto the table. '_Besides..._' he thought, smirking, 'w_e of 2-C have ample experience concerning survival games!_'

"Oi, Harima!" Hanai turned to him, scandalized. "How can you support him? As a class, we need our individuality! We can't just follow what someone says to do!"

"Another survival game sounds fun!" Tenma said. "Are outside people allowed to join?"

"For you, my _belle_, anything is possible," Tougou replied, smiling smoothly. "A maximum of 3 people from outside your class."

"Ooh, I guess that means Yakumo can join as well!" Tenma said eagerly.

Pretty much the same thought progress then went through Hanai's head and he too voiced his support in a loud, boisterous manner, ignoring the fact that he had been vehemently opposed to the very idea just mere seconds before.

"We, as Class 2-C, officially accept your challenge!" he belted out dramatically.

"As was expected," Tougou said, satisfied. "Well," he said, walking out of the classroom, "prepare yourself. We want this game to be _fun_. And see you on the 31st..."

"Such idiots..." Sagano Megumi looked over at them and sighed. "Still... this means we won't need to argue over what to do, huh?"

"Yeah, I suppose that's good in a way..." Mai said thoughtfully. "Eh, Ichijou, what were you going to say just now?"

Karen smiled shyly. "Well... I don't think there's much going on yet... but yesterday in the gym... I met a boy."

Silence. From the group.

"His name's Takamura Kouta," Karen continued. "He seems really nice..."

"Does this mean you're finally giving up on Imadori?" Sagano finally asked. At this point, Ichijou reddened and she looked around, making sure no one could hear. Everyone was currently preoccupied with Hanai and Harima, and Imadori was messaging someone on his phone.

"I don't know..." she said. "But I would never have any hope with him, anyway..." she trailed off. "Maybe Takamura-san would be a better bet..."

Meanwhile, Imadori was watching all the drama with a lazy eye. He'd called only two girls today and considered it to be a sign of improvement.

Then he'd heard something that he didn't want to know, but was interested in as well. Pulling out his phone, he typed a few messages automatically to random girls (due to habit, it was like going on autopilot mode), just to look like he was doing something, whilst listening in to Ichijou, Sagano and Ootsuka's conversation.

'_That Ichijou likes me, huh...? This is... this is surprising... and what about that Takamura Kouta?_' he thought.

To think he'd never realized... life had suddenly become a lot more complicated.

**xxxxx**

To Harima at work, Asou had suddenly become a lot more cheerful and helpful than he had been for the past few days.

Currently, Asou was frying turnip cakes for an old couple; regulars, according to Asou. They had an interesting and complicated love story that Asou had heard many times with insufferable patience and in the kitchens, he'd warned Harima that he'd have to listen politely as well, especially since he had never heard it before.

"Then Yuji-kun went to the big city to search for his fortune... but I couldn't go. I was but a _female_ at that time, you see, and society wasn't as free as it was today..." Harima was nodding patiently, a dazed look in his eyes. Well, if you could have seen them anyway. One very useful feature of his sunglasses was that they were pretty much opaque when positioned to the light source correctly, which meant that Harima could have been asleep and the old couple wouldn't have noticed. Unless he'd started snoring or slouching or something, but Asou was sure that Harima wouldn't put his job in jeopardy just because of the Seimaru couple.

Suga had told him about 2-D's challenge to 2-C and that their event for the Halloween Fair had been pretty much decided. When he heard this, Asou had smiled. At least 2-D and 2-C's ridiculous battles would never change.

"...Eventually I made it to Ookido, where Yuji was staying. I was hungry, so I went to buy some dango, and guess who I saw? Yuji-kun!..."

His mobile rang and Asou flipped it open.

"Hello?" he said into the receiver.

"Is this Kouraku?" a deep, rough voice said from the other receiver.

"Yes," Asou said. "What would you like?"

"What do we want?" the voice laughed. "Well boy... we're _yakuza_. Whatever we want, we usually get it by force. We wouldn't be calling you like pansy-asses. We wouldn't be calling you if it wasn't for our leader, anyway."

Asou's fist clenched. "Why are you calling?" He walked into the kitchen so he could get more privacy, and continued softly, "I paid the money!"

"Well boy..." the voice replied. "It's not that simple. Us yakuza aren't usually that straightforward... surely you didn't think that a piddly payment of 50,000 yen would be enough to satisfy our boss?"

Asou cursed under his breath.

**xxxxx**

"...Eventually after all the misunderstandings, we retired to Tokyo. Here in Yagami... say, are the turnip cakes burning?" the old woman, Seimaru-san asked in a surprised tone.

Harima, who had been standing there patiently for what seemed like hours (although it had probably been only about 15 minutes or so), almost to the point of dozing off, suddenly snapped, wide awake and alert. Even if Harima had only properly known Asou for a week, it wasn't like him to leave food burning.

"Sorry about that... I'll check with Asou," he said to the couple and headed off to the kitchens.

**xxxxx**

"So anyway..." the voice said. "We want regular payments of 32,000 yen per week. Surely you can manage that?"

"No!" Asou said fiercely. "You're not getting anything!"

"You got guts, kid," the voice said. "Fine, we'll play nice. How about 28,000 yen per week?"

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" Asou demanded. "I'm not giving up a cent!"

"You need to remember just who you are talking to," the voice replied, his tone now with a very hard edge. "If you don't comply, someone may just go missing... how's that sound? Don't say we didn't warn you..."

"But—" Asou said, then stopped.

"Thinking it over, huh? You know, that girl who always comes over doesn't sound too bad... the one with the big boobs..."

"Suou knows martial arts," Asou replied. "You won't get her that easy."

"Maybe not one of us, but the whole gang armed with knives, guns and bats... think she'd stand a chance? She'd be outnumbered and split in a second..."

Asou swallowed.

"That redhead kid with the crew cut, too. He seems fair game and he's not half as strong as that girl. He'd be easy..."

A slight pause as the voice left it hanging.

"How much again?" Asou broke the silence grudgingly.

"28,000 yen a week," the voice replied smoothly.

"I'll go to the club," Asou replied. "Renjéz, right?"

"Correct," the voice replied. "Nice doing business with you."

'_Renjéz?_' As Asou hung up, Harima Kenji quickly high-tailed out of there before Asou saw him and realized that he'd heard everything. Grabbing a ladle, he tried to appear like he was trying to save the turnip cakes.

'_Why the hell would that guy need to go to a place like _Renjéz'

**xxxxx**

Well, obviously the Halloween Fair is made up by me. It doesn't exist in the 'real' SR world. They have the _Bunkasai_ instead! (I forgot what the English name for it was)

...and I've always wanted to write a survival game...

Please read and review! Constructive reviews are what I live on. But I welcome all kinds of reviews... except for flames. Unless you can turn that flame into a constructive criticism. Anyway.


	4. 04:: Blue Dojibiron

**Telly**: Chapter 4!

**Vaness**: What's amazing is that we actually wrote like 22 pages in four days... (Some stuff not posted yet, heh!) But of course we took like two weeks (or maybe a month I think?) to actually upload it to FFN. Silly us...

**Telly**: My friends would attribute the 22 pages to double-line paragraphing... but what the hell, everybody does it, especially on FFN.

Moving on...

Spoilers for a certain School Rumble Nigakki episode containing Karen, Imadori and Karen's little brother. I think it's aired but I'm not sure.

**xxxxx**

Chapter 4:

"A relatively peaceful intermission happens

But the problems have not died."

**xxxxx**

"OKAY!" Hanai said to the class during lunchtime. "The survival game is in a month, but we must prepare! We cannot afford to be beaten by 2-D!"

The class muttered its assent before returning to what they had been doing before.

"LISTEN!" Hanai slammed his fists onto the table. "We have to apply the lessons learnt from the previous survival game into this one!"

"What lessons _did_ we learn?" someone random mused in the background.

"We learned about Hanai and Suou," Suga said with a wicked grin and several people sniggered. Mikoto's eye twitched and she opened her mouth to say something, but Hanai interrupted her.

"Well yes," he said. "I was just about to get to that."

"Hanai—" Mikoto said, looking at him strangely but he held up a hand to stop her.

"In the previous survival game, we all unconsciously operated in pairs. That's why I think that a basic cell unit should consist of two people, and it might as well be with people you actually get along with. You have three weeks to tell me whom you wish to pair with. Next week we shall discuss strategy! Dismissed!"

Mikoto's look turned even more strange. '_He's getting too serious about it... and besides, it's not like we're his troops or anything..._'

"But you know, it does make sense," Eri said. "Who are you pairing up with, Mikoto?"

Akira's eyes gleamed and Tenma gave her a smug smile before the both of them turned to look at Mikoto.

Mikoto turned red. "Don't look at me like that!"

"But seriously, Mikoto..." Eri said. "You went on a date with him, what, a month ago? I think it's obvious you two like each other! Don't tell me you haven't told him yet?"

Mikoto looked even more uncomfortable. "I'm getting to it! This sort of thing can't be hurried!"

"Well, don't take too long, Mikoto..." Eri warned. "Before he loses patience and blows you over!"

**xxxxx**

"Ichi-san!" Imadori called to Karen as she left the classroom.

"Hey, Imadori-san..." Karen replied, giving him a small smile. "What is it?"

"Ichijou. Just wondering, but can I come to your house tomorrow?" Imadori asked her. "I want to see Kousuke again and talk more."

Karen turned red. "Um... sorry, but I can't... I have someone coming over and I have to teach Kousuke how to fight later on..."

'_It's gotta be that Takamura guy..._' Imadori thought darkly. "Kousuke? Fight? Why?" he asked.

"I'm not that sure myself..." Karen said. "But I think he's getting bullied... and it'll be good if he can defend himself..."

"Bullied?" Imadori echoed. "I'll teach those brats!"

"Don't worry over something like this, Imadori-san," Karen said. "It's only Kousuke..."

"It is not 'only' Kousuke, Ichi-san," Imadori told her with the sudden seriousness that appeared in him randomly. "I will be seeing you." He turned and walked away.

**xxxxx**

Harry was brooding on the rooftop.

Very uncharacteristic of him, sure, but even he had his down days.

Tougou was obviously straight, in fact _severely_ so. Harry didn't know what had possessed him to say what he'd said, but he attributed it to getting off his chest and warning Tougou about it. Harry was more than aware of Tougou Senior's feelings towards homosexuals. How to hint it subtly, just how?

"Eeeeeh, I never thought I'd see the great Harry McKenzie, moping alone on the rooftop!" a soft voice joked.

"Masaki-chan... just leave me alone..." Harry said without looking at her. "I need to brood by myself for a while."

Tougou Masaki did not let him be, but instead went to sit right next to him.

"Masaki-chan, what did I say?" Harry said, slightly annoyed and Masaki looked at him.

"Just because you're depressed all of a sudden doesn't mean your emo takes up the whole roof, you know. Don't be selfish. I have the right to brood too," she replied.

Harry laughed, a genuine laugh. "I doubt your problems are as bad as mine."

"Want to bet?" she asked. "What are _your_ problems?"

Harry stared into the mountains for a while.

"I like boys," he said. There. He'd said it. "And I'm trying to figure out how to hint it tactfully to your father."

"So Inaba-chan _was_ right!" Masaki said, slightly disappointed. "All the good boys _are_ taken or gay!"

"Sorry, Masaki-chan," Harry said. "It's not that I don't like you or anything, but you understand that I can't..."

"I'm only disappointed because I lost a bet, that's all," Masaki said. "I'm also trying to think of a way to break it to Father." She got up and walked away to the door, adding, "Good luck in finding someone, Harry. I hope you're as lucky as I am with Inaba! And please don't tell nii-san anything about this."

Harry turned to look at her in surprise as she left. Well... he certainly hadn't expected _this_.

**xxxxx**

Kousuke ran, Kousuke ran, Kousuke ran!

...wait. Why was he running? He knew how to fight now, didn't he?

Stopping, he turned around to face Harima and his cronies, who skidded to a stop, slightly surprised.

"Realized it's no point running?" Harima asked, sneering.

"I don't need to run from someone like you!" Kousuke said, glaring at him.

"You don't acknowledge me?" Harima asked. "Kousuke, I'm hurt..." He took a step forward, but Kousuke did not take a step back. "You want to fight?" Harima continued, eyes narrowing.

Kousuke brought his arms up and took the stance that his sister had taught him. "I can take you on anytime, Harima! And don't call me Kousuke!"

Harima chuckled. "Interesting. Well... if you say so, Kousuke. But don't go crying to mummy when you get out of this!"

Then he leapt and Kousuke barely dodged the blow. "This time Mio isn't here to save you!" Harima breathed as he swung his foot up to kick Kousuke in this chest. Kousuke blocked the blow and went in to immobilize Harima as he'd been taught, but he wasn't strong enough. Harima broke free of his tentative grip easily and socked him in the stomach. Kousuke crumpled immediately and Harima grabbed him by his shirt cuff.

"You've still got a long ways to go, Kousuke..." he said, smirking.

"My, my, kids these days..." an outside voice floated in reprovingly and all the heads turned to face him.

"..." Harima and his gang said.

"Blue Dojibiron!" Kousuke yelled delightedly.

"Okay kids, don't do bad stuff like this in the future, yeah? It ruins your future and makes you have no friends, you know!" Blue Dojibiron's easygoing voice said as he wagged a finger in an admonishing manner.

Harima's eye twitched. They _weren't_ kids! "You've got to be kidding me... just who the hell are you?" he shouted.

"I'm Blue Dojibiron! I mean, I would have thought it was obvious..." the masked figure said, looking as if he was rolling his eyes. Which he probably was, under the mask.

"You're from high school, aren't you?" Harima asked, ignoring his answer. "Well, tell you what! I have a brother in high school who's really strong and I'm going to tell him to beat you up!"

Imadori sighed mentally. Well, this kid was on a _really_ high horse. "In case you wanted to know, I'm pretty strong too," he said. "I could probably beat your brother!"

Harima snickered. "I'd like to see you try!" he said. "We're leaving!" he said, and he and his gang disappeared.

Imadori looked at Kousuke and Kousuke looked back.

"You can play Blue Dojibiron really well, Imadori!" Kousuke said.

Imadori grinned. "Thank you. And wait till you've learned more about fighting before taking on that guy again, yeah?"

**xxxxx**

Even an idiot could figure out that Ichi-san had become happier after meeting that Takamura, Imadori thought, annoyed. There was something going on and he didn't like it...

"Good morning, Imadori-san!" Karen greeted him, smiling serenely, gliding like the wind to her seat.

"Hi, Ichi-san," he said in return but his mind was elsewhere.

**xxxxx**

Walking home, Imadori found himself in front of Nishimoto's video rental shop. As he stood there, debating whether or not to go in, Nishimoto's head poked out.

"Ah, Imadori," he said. "I'm having a giveaway right now. Feel like coming in?"

Well... like any other boy, Imadori sure wouldn't say no to free good porn. After all, he was only avoiding _D-cupped_ porn... any other porn featuring models with different-sized cups would be okay.

"Welcome to the Treasure Giveaway, Imadori," a yukata-clad Nishimoto said, ushering him in. "Do not waste time; we must be careful." As he was led in the 'treasure trove', Imadori looked around, almost drooling. "Feel free to pick anything," Nishimoto continued. "Everything," he paused regretfully, almost dramatically, "_everything_ has to go."

"As expected of the Buddha!" Imadori said happily. "Well, I'll start choosing now!" Flitting from shelf to shelf, he picked some of his usual titles automatically before remembering he was cutting his addiction to D-cups and reluctantly putting them back. This did not go unnoticed, but Nishimoto did not comment.

Picking up some modest porn, Imadori started flipping through the titles on the next shelf before he froze.

"Nishimoto... I never knew you stocked _this_ kind of treasure..." he said and Nishimoto went over to take a look. Seeing the DVD, he chuckled. "Well," he replied. "You need some porn for the ladies too."

Imadori's eye twitched. Suddenly the idea of porn was a little less appealing... but as long as he ignored the gay porn and focused on the A-to-C-cupped porn, he'd be fine.

Thanking Nishimoto, he exited the video rental store and went home, new porn titles gleefully in hand.

**xxxxx**

Ignore the timeline and just listen to what the story tells you about the whole 'date was one month ago, which means it must be like December or January!' thing. It's the beginning of October right now.

Please r&r!


End file.
